wife asked me to keep a diary

[gamewood]

first solo ride was 26 Jan 48 hours after getting the endorsement on the test ride
missed the next 9 rides
But starting today...here is my b lo g

Morning was at 42 degress and I was slightly over dressed.  Scuba neoprne hood, 2x gloves with hand warmers, jeans/sweat pants, 2x socks trash bags, black boots. 

Didnt do a TLOCS...will need to do that today. Bike revved up to 4K on 33% Choke.  So I'll have to do a better job of lowering the choke once I get it started.

No headache from the helmet today...but a new XXXL is on order.  No fogging issues until I got to the base.

Had to perform two passes.  One on a two lane road and one on the freeway.  Handling the bike was interesting as it got more solid.  First pass drop to/kept it in 3rd gear...hit 70 MPH and was able to change lanes again.  Freeway was interesting.  Did a granny shift to 3rd early and revved to 4K.  shifted to 4th then decided to pass (merging really).  Ended up looking down for a minute and saw 90 MPH and 7K on the tach.  Got her to 70Mph pretty easily.

My throttle hand got pretty tired...may be the gloves or I need a stronger right hand.

[gamewood]

More night time riding
I have an habit of over slowing for turns.  5-10 MPH.  this is one part being new and the other part being unsure that I'll have traction on a fine dirt/sand covered asphalt.  I am amazed at how little concern I really need, but Don't ever want to be surprised.

[Red01]

Much better to go slower than you need to than to go too fast! 

[gamewood]

well more learning.... the frank thomas stuff I got was obviouly made for the cheap.  Gloves are striaght fingers which help cramp the fingers.  Not sure if I'll cut a re-sow or what?

More wind here wednesday, so I got to piss everybody off keeping my speed between 55-62 (normall traffic speed is 70+ MPH...in a 55!).

Corners are still challenging from the aspect that I unknowingly over engine brake.  Got to keep the throttle in longer.  The biggest thing is that a car won't slow as much (auto) and I am still more comfortable with late braking on a car than a bike.  I think the biggest problem is depth perception.  When relaxed I have fairly decent depth perception, but when stressed or "trying too hard" it goes away.


My goal this week is to become a better rider by allowing the bike to work...being one with the bike.  Too bad winds are predicted at 20 MPH tomorrow...I think I'll drive the jeep...need to get the vette running for these moments.

[gamewood]

Well finally broke down and bought a new helmet to replace the 10yr old one from racing days.  Tried to get dot + snell...but nothing fit.  Ordered a XXXL thourgh cyclegear...in trade for this one not giving me head aches it was big every where.  settled for a bilt Dot only spirit...the one with the sun shade/blast shield inside. 

Of course the weather turned super sour...20 MPH winds, and it rained/snowed.  So I had to wait a few days for wind to die down.  Unfortunately the dirt road from my garage to the street was 8" deep of mud.  Being the guy I am, I had 5 tons of rock delivered and sholved my bad day at work away.

Then I went for a ride. 27 Miles to pick up my cell phone that I left at work...isnt any excuse to ride a good one?  I like night riding...especially since I cant see the dismal dispar of the open cali desert.  The Bilt helmet is definetly a summer helmet lots of air flow.  Tomorrow, I may just deal with the older helmet because its warmer.

Was definitely faster on the normal pavement turn, but I didnt fully take the advice of my salesman to keep the RPMs at 6K while turning.  Keep it at 3k ish and rolled the throttle. 

Now only if I can get rid of all these cars while I ride my bike?

[gamewood]

Well I guess I am doing better.  I had cop pull out from his speed trap and "follow" me.   I really like night driving...is that evil? 

When i compare cost per mile I am laughing
Jeep $1.27 per mile
Corvette $3.70 per mile
my bike 32 CENTS!!!! per mile

all smiles though!

[Sven]

Hey, uh...do I call you Gamey? Woody? Anyway, hey!

Enjoying your posts, and they bring back memories of...not so many years ago. I kept a scrapbook which turned into a website which is now a blog, so in some form or another, I can revist every stray thought I had learning to ride, etc.

Where are you located? If you would, put a city/state in your profile, and keep posting your re-entry adventures.

PS: The Psycho Gear store stuff is, as you said, mostly cheap. I tend to use them for consumables (oil, brake pads, etc) rather than gear. The more I have to live with something, the more I need to love it.

[gamewood]

Hey Sven, Woody is fine. I'm in Northen Sothern California..aka next door to middle of now where and just south of hell.

This weekend marked a few milestones.
-rode about 200 miles in a day.  Alas it was with breaks at 75 miles, 100 miles, 150 miles, and of course home. Probably getting rid of the back pack (laptop books) helped.
-hit 70 MPH, comfortably.  I mean by comfortable is that I was enjoying the sight and took a gaze a my speedo and there was 70 (This wasnt the fatest but it was the most easy)
-Rode in rain...didnt mean to nor did I recognize it.  It was a light mountain rain.  I thought I rode thru several misquito clouds when I slowed down for taco's, but it was water.  Kind of explained a few things.  Like the bike not turning like it should...I thought it was new rider so I just hung in there and let it do its thing.
-Rode in snow...funny things about mountains in early March.  Well my stop for tacos turned into a gulp and stretch, I had 5-10 miles to go or stay in=get stuck overnight.  Kept it at a lower speed at let it roll.
- Paid $4 bucks for gas
- use the center stand (2d successful time) to fill the gas tank
- New bad habit...this is the fourth time I'm rolling down the road and find my helmet strap flapping in the wind.  Gonna nip this in the bud.

[gamewood]

Nothing to report motorcycle wise. I am mainly playing aroun shifting.  Allowing the bike to grab hard with clutch release/down shift to slow the bike.

Went to the local VFW where there were a bunch of Harley dudes.  Darn those dudes were big...all of them.  Just a contrast thats all...just a contrast.

[gamewood]

Probably a First.  Had a nice ambulance ride to the ER on Monday.  El mucho scary as I had no idea what was going on.  Took a short ride on tuesday, decided not to take my gloves-bad mistake very cold.  As of today, went ahead and drove it to work today 27 miles.  My stomach is a little queasy, but right now I am more concerned about LIVING while I can than dying.

well ridin' forum bro's and sisters

[Pacodog]

Woody, what was the ambulance ride all about?

[gamewood]

Not sure. NY body attacked it self. Few drugs later and I just want to leave. My stress. Behind.

[Sven]

Glad to hear the ambulance ride has nothing to do with motorcycling...and hope you're doing fine now.
 
I relate to your helmet strap thing...still do it now and then.  Basically, anything that distracts me from the routine ends up in an error. This especially a problem when riding with someone else...I am bout to get on the bike and he asks a questions and I forget to put on gloves. I am about to take off when I realize I need to change maps in the tank bag and forget the sidestand is down and bike won't start.  There seem to be so many things going on at the same time when you are riding, and a lot of them have to be mindless, rote and second nature. All that got better over the years, but it's still a weakness.

[gamewood]

Well tonight was very interesting for this new rider.  As many of you have guessed thus far, my minimum ride is 27 miles one-way and ALL errands are a minimum of 60 miles one-way.  Today was the day for me to get caught in a freek Socal record setting rain day (IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CLOUDY).

Of course, it was wasted trip except for the 100 mile ride did me good.  965 miles on the bike in 8 weeks (couldnt ride for 3 weeks for weather and vacation). 

the 50 mile return trip took 6 hours.  I am slow as well as nuts.  From my last rain trip I knew when the buike becomes "lazy" I am losing traction.  Ended up underneath a bridge for about 30 minutes.  After continuing water shed blasting from semi's I decided to just ride the emergency lane to the next exit.  Being the true motorcyclist I decided that it was time to find a new place to stop.

Now gambling isnt supposed to be legal in california but there this place is.  A casino.  $5 minimum bet card games...and a resturant.  the Check person giggled as I walked in with double fogged visor and glasses.  so the 2x gloves, scarf, glasses, and helmet came off.  the giggles were from a 50 year-old lady with dyed hair.  I told her she looked hot. After calculating my gambling budget $2.57, I decided the stakes were too high for me and headed for the resturant.  stayed there for two hours waiting for the sun...

The ride home was on the miserable side...gotta get real riding pants that zip into the jacket...and riding boots to boot.

Wierd here's this harley guy that passed me doing 70 (i was doing 40).  Maybe he had magic tires because all I got from my bike was F-You traction.

Finally I end with my first of the ride:
1) first time reaching down to put the fuel on reserve while riding (moving)...it was thankfully uneventful.  though the enginer stutturing was due to poor traction and high gear than fuel starvation.
2) Understood the issue with the choke I hear people complain about.  It either idled at 4K or not at all; after it had warmed up but was is 40 degree temps
3) Did the motorcross slide as I tried to jump the bike over a driveway to get to my apartment.  It sounds worse than it is, but with the rain and no pavement from the street 100' to my paved/concert parking space/garage I thought it was a good idea to avoid the 8" deep mud trough (sp?) at the street and try to use the driveway to get to 1" deep mud instead.  I was pretty proud of myself as I perfectly executed maintaining rear wheel speed, not locking/using the brakes, and placing the foot down versus planting the foot...pretty good for only seeing this on movies.

later gaters

[mwheat308]

Good Job on the diary.
It sounds like you are doing great with the bike too, most of my early years if written down would have been dropped the bike today, and again and so on.
I did want to ask about the 90 mph at 7K, seems a little slow at that rpm as i am running 70 at 4k in 5th.
Good luck and enjoy.

Mike